Lawmakers promise hearings on why coach wasn't fired sooner

Officials: Why wasn't coach fired sooner?

Apr. 4, 2013

Rutgers University men's basketball coach Mike Rice directs his players during a game last month. / Photo/Getty Images

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TRENTON — Lawmakers will investigate why Rutgers University men’s basketball coach Mike Rice remained on the job months after school officials learned of his abusive behavior to players, the state Assembly speaker said.

Rice was fired Wednesday by university President Robert Barchi and Athletic Director Tim Pernetti, a day after videotape of his conduct was broadcast on ESPN. The tape showed him repeatedly shoving and kicking players, and berating them with a gay slur during practice.

Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, D-Essex, said she will schedule legislative hearings, possibly in a joint action with the Senate, “to make some determination about who knew what, and when they knew it.”

Lawmakers have some direct control over the state university’s funding and can issue directives through what is known as budget language, Oliver said.

Pernetti will have to answer for why Rice wasn’t terminated after the videotape was first available last year, she said. Instead, the third-year coach, being paid a $600,000 annual salary, was fined and suspended three games and was assessed mandatory sensitivity training and anger management counseling.

“That’s the question to be posed,” Oliver said. “I would like to reserve judgment on the athletic director until we get to the bottom of the chronology.”

After Sweeney spoke of “the lack of action the athletic director took,” host Bob Ley asked Sweeney if Pernetti should be dismissed.

“Honestly, I think that there has to be that discussion because the fact that no one really viewed the video but him and whether it’s a report, or he did an investigation — look, all you have to do is see the video. What is necessary except termination?” Sweeney said.

Oliver said she believes Barchi isn’t accountable because he “just arrived on the scene and hasn’t been president of Rutgers for a year yet.” But, she added, “I’m interested in getting to the bottom of how the president was advised. I want to know about that a little bit. I’m also concerned about the Board of Governors and whether they were informed about what took place during team practices.”

Oliver said the negative national publicity for the state university “is quite concerning to me,” especially after an increased state investment in Rutgers athletics a decade ago.

“We invested millions of dollars in capital improvement programs,” she said. “We built a state-of-the-art stadium for football and other sports programs were eliminated in order to build up the football and basketball programs. That came with much controversy within our state.”

The Rice saga drew comment from Gov. Chris Christie, who was traveling with his family outside the state on vacation.

Shortly after Rice’s firing was announced, Christie’s office released a statement indicating the governor was satisfied the personnel changes did not go beyond the dismissal of Rice.

“This was a regrettable episode for the university, but I completely support the decision to remove Coach Rice. It was the right and necessary action to take in light of the conduct displayed on the videotape,” Christie said. “Parents entrust their sons to the Rutgers Athletic Department and the men’s basketball program at an incredibly formative period of their lives. The way these young men were treated by the head coach was completely unacceptable and violates the trust parents put in at Rutgers University. All of the student-athletes entrusted to our care deserve much better. As we move on from this, I’m very optimistic that Rutgers will select a new head coach who not only puts a winning team on the court but will make everyone proud of the example he sets every day for the young men in his charge.” Christie said.

Assembly Republican Deputy Conference Leader Mary Pat Angelini, R-Monmouth, who was a prime sponsor of New Jersey’s “Anti-Bullying Law” for grade schools, said it was “shocking that someone who is responsible for developing character and integrity believes the goal of winning is the ultimate prize and no price is too great.”

“The abuse and bullying inflicted on the student-athletes at New Jersey’s state university is an embarrassment,” Angelini said.

“The leadership at Rutgers must explain to the people of New Jersey why Mr. Rice’s firing didn’t happen sooner and how such an abusive environment was ever permitted to exist at our state university,” Riley, D-Cumberland, said. “If the Rutgers administration refuses to explain itself, I will seek to get the answers the people of our state deserve as to why he wasn't fired sooner.”

In 2010, the university got widespread attention when freshman Tyler Clementi killed himself after his roommate used a webcam to see him kissing another man. The roommate, Dharun Ravi, spent 20 days in jail last year after being convicted of bias intimidation, invasion of privacy and other crimes.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, Rutgers changed several policies to try to make the campus more hospitable to gay students, including allowing students to have a roommate of any gender.

Clementi’s suicide also led to the quick passage of a law that requires public schools to report bullying and for public colleges and universities to have codes of conduct that spelled out that bullying is not acceptable. Under Rutgers’ policy, students can be kicked out of school for it.

Two Democratic members of Congress from New Jersey, Rep. Rush Holt and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, are pushing a federal bill named after Clementi that would prohibit harassment of college students by other students, faculty and staff. The two said Wednesday the law would have applied to Rice had it been in place.

Clementi’s parents, Joseph and Jane Clementi, released a statement Wednesday praising the university for firing Rice and for trying to be more inclusive to vulnerable students.

“All students require safe environments to learn and reach their full potential, and Coach Rice’s conduct has no place on a campus that is devoted to learning and fostering a sense of community,” the couple said.